On the matter of the library

Allow me to say that I am impressed at the length of this discussion.  If you took all the flyers & papers posted here, it could well become it's own book.

I would like to know, from someone with an official capacity to speak, is there a law barring the creation of another library?

There are no laws preventing private citizens from establishing their own collections of books. Such a law would be absurd.

Lord Abendroth

Such a conversation might even be absurd!

Who knows, though?

I would be interested in knowing how having two collections of knowledge would reduce the dissemination of same. As a fair few citizens could tell you, every time a person shares a bit of knowledge, the person shared with usually wants to share it with someone else.

The way I see it, if the two libraries chose to compete for whose collection was more complete, they would have to throw open their doors to prove their relative status. If they chose to collaborate, then we might very well end up with more copies of common information, so that it can be distributed to the people more readily, and more hiding places for the sensitive knowledge. Neither possibility strikes me as a bad thing.

As far as approaching a Scholar for Scholarly questions, etc., I'm sure we are all aware that for a professional Scholar, at the very least, the quest for knowledge takes them into the realm of all types of people, because that is where the knowledge comes from. The specialized knowledge that comes with trades, or the language and guarded secrets of both common and long-forgotten races, that comes most readily from its true source: the people who made that knowledge to begin with. Thus, a Scholar might be seen approaching anyone for knowledge, and hopefully spreading that knowledge once they've mastered it. We all might learn that lesson well... and I fear I've spent a lot of time talking to Chroniclerites these past few moons; their words are rubbing off on me.

I do hope my opinion doesn't offend; this seemed like such a spirited and interesting debate, and I wanted to offer my thoughts.

As I've said before: information is valuable, communication invaluable.

There is no law against having two libraries.

As to how having more than one would prevent the dissemination of knowledge, it would not, unless duplicates were made of some works before first copies on other topics were penned.  That would impair the availability of some unknown knowledge of reaching the public.  As to the dissemination of knowledge, I place mine in codices and manuscripts as fast as I can write them.  Other scholars seem to have other agendas.  Perhaps you should take a look at the works in the library and see for yourself. 

I cannot speak for the other scholars, but I know when a topic grabs my interest I travel where I must and speak to whom I am able until such time as I have enough information to allow my MS to be written.  My tastes are eclectic and eccentric, leading me to such diverse topics as Kromyrian politics, canon law, etiquette, undead chamions, to hearaldry.  Who knows what some will find useful.  It all forms a patten for me and I try to fill in what I need to make my picture more comlete.  I dearly wish others would also share some of their knowledge.  Alas, some like Dr. Darkwod are too busy.  It is good that I have so much spare time and am never called to perorm any services, else I too, would be to busy.

Since there is no law against it & this looks to be a matter dealing with merchants, then I see no reason for all this back-&-forth. As for some of the tones of the messages, I am surprised by how heated & personal some of this has become.  My only hope is that while matters like this are worthy of attention & thought, let's not forget other matters that are still pressing.  A war & many battles still continue in far off areas.  Seeding, planting & harvesting must still be done.  Old threats remain.  Our brave lords & ladies have turned their attention to other matters, & let's not lose focus on what is pending.

Thank you for your time.